


Doin It...and Stuff

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 20:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5599915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“C'mon, I'm gonna be so mature about this I swear.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doin It...and Stuff

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written in the Losing a Whole Year universe. It was supposed to be the last fic of 2015 but it’s now the first fic of 2016. That’s cool with me.

“Party of the year.” Olivia did a little dance move as she lit her clove. “Party of the damn year, Barba. Seriously, I'm never speaking to you again if you don’t come.”

“You said the last party you went to was the party of the year. You also said you’d never speak to me again if I didn’t show up. Here we are, amigo.”

“You're not cute, not even a little bit cute. I don’t even like your little chubby cheeks anymore. C'mon, you have to be there because it’s gonna be epic. Everyone is coming, even the nerds will be there. I hear Huang is bringing a squad.”

“Huang got invited?” Rafael looked at her with wide green eyes.

“Huang gets invited everywhere…which you would know if you ever showed up.”

There were many kingdoms in the land of St. Anne’s High School. George Huang was the undisputed king of the smart kids. There had been a few attempts over the years to dethrone him but no one had come close. Many predicted he would be the first Asian-American President. The kid was much-loved and hated, as one normally was when they ruled a roost. 

Rita hated him but knew she would never be as popular as he was. She was too polarizing of a figure. Rita intended to get George where it would hurt; she would be class valedictorian. She would knock him out of the #1 spot and watch him fall with glee if it was the last thing she did. Everyone had to have goals.

“Look, do you want me to come to the South Bronx and talk to your mom? She can't be this overprotective anymore…you're 16 going on 17, Liesl. You need to get out, party, and kiss many attractive boys. This aggression will not stand, man.”

“You know, you probably should meet my mom. She knows we’re friends and she asks about you sometimes.” 

Rafael didn’t want to say she asked about Liv all the time since as far as Lucia Barba knew, Liv and Rita were her son’s only school friends. He had actually managed to mention Trevor once or twice but it was usually in passing like ‘ _I got an A on the test and so did Trevor_ ’. In worrying that he would talk about a boy too much, Rafael had managed to accidentally do it with a girl. His mother wanted to meet Liv. 

He just wasn’t sure he wanted her to. Going to school in Manhattan meant Rafael had something to and for himself. It didn’t belong to the South Bronx or his rough and tumble neighborhood. He didn’t think he wanted to share.

“Alright Barba, this is the deal. We’ll head to your place tomorrow after school and we’ll bring Casey because moms freaking love Casey. We’ll chat up your mom all nice and then we’ll throw in the party. You'll have to stay in Manhattan overnight so you'll tell your mom you're staying with your good pal Trevor.”

“I can't stay with him.” Rafael said. “I mean his dad is mostly cool with us dating but I can't spend the night there.”

“You're staying with me, dude.” Liv said. “Your mom will just think you’re staying with Trevor.”

“She’ll call Liv, my mom will totally call.”

“Please don’t insult me by assuming I don’t have battle plans drawn up for the entire event.”

“Oh.” He nodded. Why would he suspect anything different? It was lucky that Olivia was one of the good guys because the truth was she would make a criminal mastermind. “OK.”

“So after school on Friday you can come and hang out here for a while and then we’ll head out to Harlem. It really is gonna kick ass Rafael, you need this.”

Since coming to St. Anne’s as a freshman, Rafael had only been to a handful of parties thrown by students. He wasn’t extremely popular and for the most part kept to himself unless he was with Rita or doing extra-curricular activities. Since getting cool with Liv and her friends and dating Trevor, he'd been asked to probably close to 50 parties. He declined all but once or twice. This did not sit well with Olivia. 

It wasn’t because she thought Rafael didn’t want to hang and she was pressuring him. It was because she knew he did but was uncomfortable around most of the so-called sophisticated Manhattan kids. There were lots of raves going on. Underground parties, trips on X, and lots of dancing until two in the morning. 

It seemed as if some of their peers had no supervision. In some cases that was true. Rafael lived in a home where the rules were still pretty strict. And he certainly never wanted his father to have any reason to get angry at him. He'd get a swift kick if his father was mad for nothing…he didn’t need his father to have a reason.

“OK.” He sighed.

“For real?” she looked at him. 

Liv expected him to make another excuse. She really wanted him to come and hang, sometimes he acted as if he didn’t have a friend in the world. Hell, even if he chose to hang out with Calhoun and the mathlete brigade at least he would be hanging out. Instead he just went to school, went to the library, dates with Trevor (which were like James Bond’s secret missions) and went home. 

She knew his home life wasn’t the best; that was something she had experience with. But they weren't going to be young forever. And it was only a matter of time before college and the obligations of growing up took them miles from each other. These next ten months, as seniors in high school and then the summer, would be all about being reckless and free.

“Yeah, for real. You're gonna really have to sell it to my mom though.”

“I can sell it. I do the talking, Casey does the nodding and smiling. I don’t like to brag but it’s foolproof. Connie is only allowed to be friends with us because her mother thinks we’re sweet girls. Rumor has it that Mexican moms trust no one, especially white girls. Mrs. Rubirosa loves us.”

“So who's having the so-called party of the year anyway?” Rafael asked.

“Declan Murphy is throwing it and Fin handled the guest list so there will be an eclectic mix of legal and not so much there. I keep telling the two of them they need to go into business after school ends. Event planning or something; the phones would never stop ringing. This one will be like half-rave, half-basement jam.”

“I don’t do drugs.”

“Duh…how long have we been friends? You don’t have to do drugs to have fun, Barba. This isn't a very special episode of any family show. You do what you want and make your own fun. There's gonna be good music, hot people, drinks, and me. It'll be fabulous.”

“Can I invite Trevor?” Rafael asked.

“Sure. I'm sure he got an invitation already. Just want you to know that he's a good boyfriend, at least he never shows up at any parties I'm at without you.” Liv said, flicking the clove down the steps and into the street.

“Of course he doesn’t. He doesn’t want you to rat him out.” He laughed.

“And I would too; you better let him know. If I even see him chatting with a guy that’s more adorable than you I'm talking. Not that there are too many guys more adorable than you but its New York so there are a few.”

“You think I'm adorable?”

“You're my darling.” Liv smiled as she lay her head on his shoulder. “You're seriously the most adorable boy I know. I mean I kinda love Ed but he's a different kind of handsome.”

“You kinda love Ed Tucker?” Rafael was surprised to hear that. He wasn’t surprised that it might be so but he never thought that Liv would say it out loud. She held everything close to her chest even though of all of her friends he was the one she trusted the most with her innermost feelings. He had no idea how he became that friend but one didn’t question when Olivia Benson made her decisions.

“Kinda.” She shrugged.

“You can totally not answer if you want but have you…you know, gone all the way yet?”

“Hey, everything is not about sex, Barba.”

“A simple no would've sufficed.” He said.

“Shut up.” Liv thumped his shoulder. “If I tell you something will you swear never to tell anyone?”

“Of course.” Rafael crossed his heart.

“I'm a little afraid. Connie said it hurt when she did it but it wasn’t so horrible. It was kind of like this is the uncomfortable part but the good shit comes later…or something. I really don’t want it to hurt. And what if he's like doing it and I have a flashback or something? What if I freak out on him?”

“A flashback?”

“Like about junior prom?”

“Oh. Shit.”

“Yeah.” Liv nodded. “I talked about it with Aunt Liz, which wasn’t easy because I really didn’t need her to know I was thinking about doing it with my boyfriend. She said those fears are normal and I need to wait until I'm completely ready. What if I'm never ready, Barba? What if I am damaged goods?”

“You're not.” He shook his head. “Something bad happened to you and it takes time to go back to being a teenager again. Maybe you're changed forever, it’s possible. I don’t think virginity is the hill you're gonna die on, Liv.”

“Have you gone all the way?” she asked.

“With Trevor?”

“With anybody? You know, this is something we haven’t talked about.”

“We don’t have to talk about everything.” Rafael said.

“Of course we do,” Liv smiled. “We’re besties. Give up the deets.”

“I've never gone all the way with a girl before. I'm just not interested in girls that way right now. I mean I am, but I'm not. You know?”

“I get it.” She nodded.

“You do?”

“Yeah, and you're stalling.”

“Trevor and I went all the way a couple of months ago.” Rafael said.

“And you're just telling me!” she thumped him again, this time on his thigh. “Man Barba, you seriously hold out on me. That is so not cool.”

“I wasn’t exactly sure how to bring it up in conversation.” He lied. “I can't really say Trevor went up my bum and he's hung like a horse…pass the peas.”

Liv gasped. “Like up the bum, up the bum? _Up the bum_?”

“See? This is why I didn’t tell you.”

“C'mon, I'm gonna be so mature about this I swear. Did it hurt?”

“What do you think?” he looked at her. Rafael didn’t walk right for nearly two days. When his mom asked about it, he lied and said he was constipated and it finally passed. How disappointed was he when she cut cheese out of his diet for two weeks. Worth it, but still almost more painful than up the bum.

“Hurt like a motherfucker, huh?”

“Not all of it.”

“Aww yay,” she hugged him. “Barba got some. I'm so happy for you.”

“You are so incredibly strange.”

“You love me.” Liv’s tone was matter of fact. 

“Yeah, I kinda do.” Rafael looked at his watch. “I need to head home. Debate practice is after school tomorrow and it won't be over until about 4:30.”

“Casey and I will go grab some food and then meet you back at the school.”

Rafael nodded. He stood up from the steps and put his backpack on. It was early October and the weather in New York City was still close to summer. He could smell the rain in the air though. He hoped it didn’t usher in the cold, he wasn’t quite ready for another winter.

“Thanks for doing this, Liv. Thanks for being my friend.”

“Don’t get mushy, Barba.” She smiled but shook her head.

“So, no hugs?” he asked.

“Hell no.” 

He could only smile; she wasn’t even taking into account that she hugged him just a few minutes before. Olivia Benson was a strange creature but he was glad to call her friend. Rolling his eyes, Rafael kissed the palm of his hand, gently slapping it on Olivia’s forehead.

“I’ll see you tomorrow in home room.” He walked down the steps.

“Later.” Liv lit another clove. 

She watched him walk all the way down the street until she couldn’t see him anymore. After a few moments humming to herself, she picked up the cordless phone sitting beside her. Whenever Liv was outside, and she tried to spend at least an hour every afternoon outside, she brought the phone with her. She dialed the number off the top of her head.

“Hello.”

“Hey Ed, its Liv.”

“Hey babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.” She smiled when she said it. He didn’t know that. Well, he probably did.

“Did you call to break my balls? It’s been hours.”

“You're coming to the party on Friday, right?”

“I'm going with you aren’t I?”

“Well I was just double checking.”

“I’ll be there.” Ed said. “What's up?”

“I don’t know what your plans are for next weekend, but I'm thinking we should probably just go ahead and do it.” She said.

“Do what?”

“It, Edward.”

“Oh…oh…OK. Um…”

“We can't do it at my house because Aunt Liz will probably be around but your dad is never around on Sundays.”

“Sunday is cool.” He said. Ed was really surprised that he could still speak. “Can I just say you're gonna be the death of me, Benson? Its probably gonna be a kickass death, one that kids in Hell’s Kitchen talk about for generations to come, but still death.”

“Just don’t die until I'm no longer a virgin.” She said.

“I think I can manage that.”

“I gotta go; see you in school tomorrow.”

“I’ll be the one looking like I would rather wander in front of one of the school buses.” Ed said.

“That’s a good look on you.”

“It matches my eyes.”

Liv laughed and told him goodbye. She hung up the phone, smiling to herself. While her virginity wasn’t the hill she wanted to die on, she did think it was time to let it go. Not because some of her other friends had and she felt left behind. Liv was fine with marching to the beat of her own personal drum. 

But she cared about Ed and she wanted to experience this with him now. Her brain was fighting her body and she was tired of letting her brain win. Liv was young and kinda in love, now was the time. There had been so much in her young life and teen years that she'd want to bury as an adult and never think about again. 

There would be plenty of time on a therapist’s couch to rehash that mess. She wanted good times too. She wanted parties and friends and late, rainy nights at diners eating crap food. And she wanted Ed Tucker. For every bad memory, Liv wanted to make two good ones.

***


End file.
